More on Jinnah's retirement plans

Jinnah Papers, First Series, Volume IV, No 77 (pages 136-137) record that on August 1, 1947,  Jinnah received a Rs 10,000 earnest money payment from Jaydayal Dalmia and executed an agreement with him for the sale of  Jinnah's property of No. 10 Aurangzeb Road, New Delhi.  The total sum was for Rs 300,000 to be paid on or before January 10, 1948.  Jinnah planned to transfer possession on or before August 31, 1947.

Jawed Naqvi, in The Dawn, November 7, 2017, "Two daughters and sons-in-law", borrows from Sheela Reddy, "Mr and Mrs Jinnah: the Marriage that Shook India":

When Jinnah was rumoured to be considering selling his Bombay home in 1941, Dina [Wadia] broke her long silence to pen a letter to ‘My darling Papa’.

Dated April 28, 1941, the letter is reproduced in Reddy’s book. It reads: “First of all I must congratulate you — on having got Pakistan, that is to say, the principle has been accepted. I am so proud and happy for you — how hard you have worked for it.”

Dina then comes to the subject of her primary interest. “I hear you have sold ‘South Court’ to Dalmia for 20 lakhs. It’s a very good price and you must be very pleased,” she writes. “If you have sold [it], I wanted to make one suggestion of you — if you are not moving your books, could I please have a few of Ruttie’s old poetry books — Byron, Shelley and a few others and the Oscar Wilde series?”

Jinnah’s reply was to summarily dismiss the purported house sale as a “wild rumour”.

So what to make of Dina Wadia's letter to her father on 2/5 June 1947, as reproduced in the Jinnah Papers, Volume I, Part II,  No. 525, pages 984-985?  Dina Wadia started the letter on June 2nd and continued it on June 5th.  Intervening was June 3rd, when the Mountbatten Partition plan was announced.  For now, just quoting the relevant sentences:

I am sorry that you didn't sell South Court [2] as I know you want to—I believed you had because I read about it in the Forum Magazine and didn't think they would print a complete falsehood.  As you say, people do indulge in wild rumours.  F.E. Dinshaw's house I believe has been sold to Mullaji for 19 lakhs fifty thousand.  I am not sure if this is certain.

[2] South Court was the name of Jinnah's residence at Mount Pleasant Road, Malabar Hill, Bombay.

We are told "On 9 August 1943, the first anniversary of Quit India Day, Joachim and Violet Alva founded FORUM, a weekly news magazine which became known for its championing of the cause of independence. " I wonder if this is the magazine mentioned above.

Regarding the meeting with the Muslim members of the Constituent Assembly of India, Choudhry Khaliquzzaman, in "Pathway to Pakistan" recounts:

Mr. Jinnah himself realized the grave dangers to Muslims who after the partition were to be left in India.  I remember that in 1 August 1947, a few days before his final departure for Karachi, Mr. Jinnah called the Muslim members of the Constituent Assembly of India to his house at 10 Aurangzeb Road to bid farewell to them.  Mr. Rizwanullah put some awkward questions concerning the position of Muslims who would be left over in India, their status and their future.

[My question: Mr. Rizwanullah = Maulvi Rizwanullah, Muslim Leaguer from Gorakhpur?]

I had never before found Mr. Jinnah so disconcerted as on that occasion, probably because he was realizing then quite vividly what was immediately in store for the Muslims.   Finding the situation awkward, I asked my friends and colleagues to end the discussion.  I believe as a result of our farewell meeting Mr. Jinnah took the earliest opportunity to bid goodbye to his two-nation theory in his speech on 11 September 1947 as the Governor-General designate of Pakistan and President of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan:

Now, if we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous, we should wholly and solely concentrate on the well-being of the people, and especially of the masses and the poor. If you will work in co-operation, forgetting the past, burying the hatchet, you are bound to succeed. If you change your past and work together in a spirit that everyone of you, no matter to what community he belongs, no matter what relations he had with you in the past, no matter what is his colour, caste or creed, is first, second and last a citizen of this State with equal rights, privileges, and obligations, there will be on end to the progress you will make....I cannot emphasize it too much. We should begin to work in that spirit and in course of time all these angularities of the majority and minority communities, the Hindu community and the Muslim community— because even as regards Muslims you have Pathans, Punjabis, Shias, Sunnis and so on, and among the Hindus you have Brahmins, Vaishyas, Khatris, also Bengalis, Madrasis and so on—will vanish. Indeed if you ask me, this has been the biggest hindrance in the way of India to attain the freedom and independence and but for this we would have been free people long ago. ..You may belong to any religion or caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the State.

The last meeting of the All-India Muslim League Council was held in Karachi on December 14-15, 1947. (I'm relying on "Encyclopedia of Political Parties Series, All India Muslim League, Volume 2" Editor-in-Chief O.P. Ralhan for this). Quote, emphasis added:

"A member interrupted and asked the Quaid-i-Azam if he would once again be prepared to take over the leadership of the Muslims of India in the present hour of trial.  The Quaid-i-Azam replied that he was quite willing to do so if the Council gave its verdict in favour of such proposal.  He recalled his statement at the time of the achievement of Pakistan that his job had been done, and with the achievement of Pakistan, the cherished goal of the Muslim nation, he wanted to lead a retired life.  But if called upon, he was quite ready to leave Pakistan and share the difficulties of the Muslim in the Indian Union and so lead them."

It would seem that Jinnah saw his retired life to be in Pakistan, not in Bombay, if this account is relied upon. (My problem with it is that O.P. Ralhan does not adequately identify the sources.)

In the July 30th 1947 story that Jinnah contradicted, we had this (emphasis added)

It is said that a large number of Muslim members felt sore and asked a series of questions as to their position and fate and the help that they should expect from the Pakistan Government.  Mr. Jinnah is reported to have said that they should not expect any help from the Pakistan State and must rely on themselves and fit in with the new conditions.

In the December 14-15th meeting, (emphasis added)

The Quaid-i-Azam recalled the charges that were being levelled against Pakistan and its leaders about the betrayal of the Muslim masses in the Indian Union.  He said, he was full of feelings for the Muslim masses in the Indian Union, who were, unfortunately, facing bad days. He advised the Indian Muslims to organize themselves so as to become powerful enough to safeguard their political rights.  A well-organized minority should be powerful enough to protect its own rights—political, cultural, economic and social.  On his part, he assured them of his full realization that the achievement of Pakistan was the outcome of the labour and toil of the Muslim in India as well as of those who were now enjoying its fruits.  Pakistan would help them in every possible way.

 

Jinnah's retirement plans

It is claimed, e.g.,

After becoming Governor General of Pakistan Jinnah maintained his citizenship of India. Just FYI. He was planning on going home and retiring in Bombay.

The evidence for this claim is supposed to be Jinnah Papers, Volume IV, page 142.

Let us systematically examine the two parts of this claim.

1. Citizenship.
2. What is in the Jinnah Papers.

 Jinnah may have at some occasion expressed a wish to retire to Bombay,  but evidence cited above does not say anything about it.   And "maintained his citizenship of India" has no meaning.  It also contradicts what he said on March 30, 1946 in his interview in Delhi by Norman Cliff, Foreign Editor, News Chronicle (of London).

Confronting each other in every village

The Indian nationalists would not participate in World War II merely to perpetuate British rule over India.  Edward John Thompson (1886-1946) wrote "Enlist India for Freedom!"(1940) to argue for something different.  But:

In my talk with Mr. Jinnah last October, there was this exchange: there is no harm in quoting it, since it is what he has said so often and so often.

"Two nations, Mr. Jinnah!  Confronting each other in every province? every town? every village?"

"Two nations.  Confronting each other in every province.  Every town.  Every village.  That is the only solution."

"That is a very terrible solution, Mr. Jinnah!"

"It is a terrible solution.  But it is the only one".

Jinnah: "I don't regard myself as an Indian"

(Originally blogged about here.)

In an interview of Jinnah by Norman Cliff, published in the News Chronicle(London) of March 30, 1946, Jinnah declared "I don't regard myself as an Indian".  This was just after the Cabinet Mission arrived in India, and just before they arrived at Delhi to start conferring with Indian leaders.  This interview was mentioned in the Times of India a couple of days later, and so was known in India.

With respect to Ayesha Jalal's thesis that Jinnah never intended the existence of an independent Pakistan, I suppose Jinnah's regarding himself not as an Indian was also merely a negotiating ploy.

Muslim League nominees to the Interim Government 1946

A story of the Muslim League nominees to the Interim Government in October 1946,  and its later (mis)remembrance by Maulana Azad is spelled out here.

Jinnah-Suhrawardy April 1946

 In March 1946, the British impression was that Jinnah did not hold H.S. Suhrawardy in high regard.  The break between Jinnah and Suhrawardy became explicit and public only later in 1947.

The following is from The Transfer of Power, Volume VII, editors Mansergh and Moon, 23 March – 29 June, 1946, item #17 “Record of Meeting between Field Marshall Viscount Wavell, Cabinet Delegation and Provincial Governors on Thursday, 28 March 1946″.

Excerpt:

The Governor of Bengal (Sir Frederick Burrows) said that the election results would not be complete until the end of March…..Unfortunately, now that Sir Nazimuddin had withdrawn from politics there was no honest politician left. The probable Prime Minister in a Muslim League Government was Mr. Suhrawardy, though neither Mr. Jinnah nor anyone else thought very highly of him. The Governor thought it possible that Sir Nazimuddin might return to the leadership of the Provincial League party with Mr. Jinnah’s support, in which case Mr. Suhrawardy might go over to Congress.

An incident with Jinnah

M.S.M. Sharma was the editor of The Daily Gazette, Karachi, at the time of Partition.  He lasted in Pakistan till around January 1948, when he packed up and left for India, where he subsequently became the editor of The Searchlight, Patna.

Sharma wrote a book, published in 1954,  Peeps Into Pakistan.  The author's preface begins:

On my return to India from Pakistan in 1948, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel of beloved memory suggested that I should write a volume of my experiences in Pakistan in a reminiscent vein.  But the "Iron Dictator" qualified his command with a grave warning.  It was not until the last vestige of bitterness had subsided I should take up my pen.  I flatter myself I am not temperamental.  But it took me more than thirty months to expel every trace of bitterness that had taken possession of my soul as a result of my experiences of the early days of Pakistan.

Here is an incident Sharma relates regarding Jinnah.

Sind did become a separate and individual unit in its own right on the All Fools' Day, 1936.  Sir Lancelot Graham was appointed first Governor.....

Jinnah had hoped for much from Sir Lancelot Graham whom he had known pretty intimately in the Central Assembly in New Delhi.   The common bond between them was their hatred of Vithalbhai Jhaveribhai Patel, the elder brother of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.  An imperialist to his fingertips, Sir Lancelot who was then Secretary of the Legislative Assembly department in Delhi wagged his tail to Vithalbhai who was then President of the Central Legislative Assembly.  Vithalbhai cut the wagging tail.

In the old days, Jinnah and Vithalbhai had been inseparable friends.   That was in the heydays of the Home Rule movement.   Both of them also figured as fellow signatories of the famous Memorandum of the Nineteen—a document signed by 19 members of the Imperial Legislative Council and asking for a measure of provincial autonomy for India.  This was before 1919.  In the year 1919, Vithalbhai was in England in connection with the Government of India Bill on the parliamentary anvil.   So was Jinnah.   For the story I am repeating here I am obliged to the late Lord Burnham, the proprietor of the Daily Telegraph who, it would be recalled, toured India nine years later as a member of the Simon Commission.  I had to cover the early part of the Commission's tour and had good opportunities of knowing the commissioners, particularly Lord Burnham and Mr. Attlee.

Burnham's story was this.  He was the host at a party at which both Jinnah and Vithalbhai were guests among others.  Jinnah said something about beards.  The irrepressible Vithalbhai retorted in his usually lighthearted manner and referred to Jinnah as a Muslim renegade.  Jinnah himself never claimed to be an orthodox Muslim.   In fact, he prided himself that there was nothing in common between himself and "these fellows", as for instance, he told me at Gaya on July 9, 1939 when I saw him for a brief while when he had just emerged from the Bihar provincial league conference over which he had just presided.   It was one thing to crack a joke with Jinnah in strict privacy but it was a risk to do it in company.  Anyhow, the fact was that from that time onwards he looked upon Vithalbhai as his arch-enemy.   Sir Lancelot had no reason to be kind to Vithalbhai's memory. Jinnah thought that he and Lancelot Graham together could make strange bed-fellows, nevertheless bed-fellows for all that.

But what Jinnah did not realise was that, with all his faults, Lancelot Graham was a strictly constitutional governor.  he would not call the League to form the ministry.

Sikh-JInnah meeting - 1946

Professor Ishtiaq Ahmed writes in the Daily Times:

 In a meeting in May 1947 sponsored by Lord Mountbatten to help the Muslims and Sikhs reach an agreement on keeping Punjab united, Jinnah offered the Sikhs all the safeguards they wanted if they agreed to support Pakistan. Only in March 1947 some 2,000-10,000 Sikhs — depending on who you cite — were butchered in the Rawalpindi rural areas so the Sikhs were very wary of Jinnah’s overtures. Chief Minister of Patiala Hardit Singh Malik writes he had an inspiration and asked Jinnah: “Sir you are making all the promises but God forbid if something happens to you, what will happen then?” The exact words Jinnah used in reply will be revealed in my forthcoming book, but the reasoning was that his followers will treat his words as sacred. 

I believe Professor Ahmed is wrong in his date. May 1947 is in any case too late.  I have not yet found any trace of this Mountbatten-sponsored meeting in the Transfer of Power papers for May 1947.   I believe the Jinnah-Sikh leaders' meeting was April 2, 1946. Jinnah there promised them the world.

Jinnah's activities as a Mahomedan politician 1913-1915

Based on

The Works of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah

Volume II (1913-1916)

Editor: Dr. Riaz Ahmad

Quaid-i-Azam University, 1996

and

All India Muslim League Vol I

Encyclopedia of Political Party Series

Editor-in-Chief O.P. Ralhan

Anmol Publications, 1997

March 22, 1913 - Jinnah at the annual session of the All India Muslim League, succeeded in getting its constitution to ask for self-government for India on lines suitable to India's special needs, instead of self-government for India on colonial lines (as Mazharul Haque pushed for).

October 1913 - Jinnah joined the All India Muslim League

December 20, 1913 - Presidential address at the Anjuman-i-Islam, Bombay

May 1, 1947 - US officials visit Jinnah

May 1 1947 - At his Bombay residence, Jinnah met with Raymond Hare, US State Dept. Division of Middle Eastern and Indian Affairs, and Thomas Weil, second secretary at the US Embassy at New Delhi.  This meeting was described in "Secret Telegram from George R. Merrell, Charge de Affaires US Embassy New Delhi to Secretary of State George C. Marshall, May 2, 1947,  Foreign Relations of the United States 1947 Volume 3, :154-155."  Cited by Hussain Haqqani, Magnificent Delusions: Pakistan, the United States, and an Epic History of Misunderstanding.




845.00/5-247 : Telegram

The Chargé in India (Merrell) to the Secretary of State

SECRET                                                                     NEW DELHI, May 2, 1947—10 a. m.

299. In hour and half conversation with Hare and Weil [1] yesterday, Jinnah said Congress demand for partition Bengal and Punjab would not "frighten" him into joining union center; that even if "driven into Sind desert" he would refuse to join union.  He said establishment Pakistan essential to prevent "Hindu imperialism" spreading into Middle East;  Muslim countries would stand together against possible Russian aggression and would look to US for assistance.   Reminded of Dawn's [2] frequent jibes re US economic imperialism and dollar diplomacy, he said Dawn editors simply reflected attitude of Indian Muslims in general towards US and added jokingly "they had to make a living".  He said while he realized US Govt probably open-minded re Pakistan, most Indian Muslims felt Americans were against them (a) because most Americans seemed opposed to Pakistan and (b) US Govt and people backed Jews against Arabs in Palestine.

[1] Raymond A. Hare of the Division of Middle Eastern and Indian Affairs, and Thomas E. Weil, Second Secretary of Embassy at New Delhi.
[2] Daily newspaper published in New Delhi; official organ of the Muslim League.

Jinnah said he thought if Calcutta area were included in Pakistan, Hindus would adjust selves to situation but if they didn't they would have to be brought under control and he thought this would "not take very long".  Apropos Punjab, he said Sikhs would be fairly treated and would have as many representatives in Pakistan Parliament as Sind or NWFP.   Said he thought announcement HMG's decision on Pakistan would clear atmosphere and reduce communal tension.

Jinnah's manner was calm and gracious and he showed none of nervousness or effects of illness noted by Jones of New York Times on April 19 (mitel280, April 21 [3])

Difficult to believe eventual announcement HMG's decision on Pakistan with or without partition of Bengal or Punjab will clear communal atmosphere.  Force will undoubtedly have to be employed to control rebellious elements in Bengal and Punjab no matter who receives power from HMG in those areas.

Please repeat London.

MERRELL

[3] Not printed.

Why did Jinnah recognize Kalat as an independent state?

The British position in Lord Wavell/Lord Mountbatten's time was that Kalat was like any other Indian princely state.  Nevertheless, Lord Mountbatten mediated negotiations between M.A. Jinnah and the Khan of Kalat and Jinnah, on behalf of Pakistan, recognized Kalat as a sovereign, independent state.  The question is - why did Jinnah adopt that position?

The answer has to do with the legal position of the Indian princely states.   Under the Indian Independence Act, British paramountcy would lapse, and all treaties between the princely states and Great Britain would cease to have effect.   However, all British Indian treaties with sovereign states would continue to be in effect, and be inherited by the newly independent India and Pakistan.

The British had obtained a perpetual lease of Quetta and surrounding areas from the Khan of Kalat.  If Kalat was a sovereign state, then Pakistan would inherit that lease.   If Kalat was a princely state of British India, the lease would lapse, and  Quetta would revert to Kalat. Pakistan's claim on it would depend on whether the Khan of Kalat acceded to Pakistan or not.

Some of the evidence for this answer is presented below. It is in reverse chronological order.

1926: Jinnah in Canada and the USA

Stanley Wolpert, Jinnah of Pakistan (1984), page 88:

Jinnah had been appointed to the assembly's Sandhurst Committee in 1925, chaired by then army chief of staff Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Skeen, to study the feasibility of establishing a military college like Sandhurst in India.  He was one of three Indian subcommittee members invited to undertake the grand tour of inspection of military colleges and installations overseas, leaving Bombay early in April and returning home in August.

Report of the Indian Sandhurst Committee, dated 14th November 1926, published 1927 (found via the State Library of Victoria, Australia) tells us that a sub-committee was constituted that

...consisted of Mr. Jinnah, Sir Phiroze Sethna, and Major Zorawar Singh.  Leaving India about the beginning of April 1926, the members first met in London at the end of April.  They visited educational institutions of all kinds in England and also toured in France, Canada and the United States...They returned to India on August 13th, 1926.

Traces of the visit to North America have been hard to come by.

Jinnah's religion - 8

Wolpert (Jinnah of Pakistan, chapter 2, covering the period 1896-1910 ) writes, without citations:

Though religion never played an important role in Jinnah's life - except for its political significance - he left the Aga Khan's  "Sevener" Khoja community at this stage of his maturation, opting instead to join the less hierarchically structured Isna 'Ashari sect of "Twelver" Khojas, who acknowledged no leaders.  One of Jinnah's most admired Bombay friends, Justice Badruddin Tyabji (1844-1906), first Muslim high court judge and third president of the Indian National Congress, was an Isna Ashari.

Jaswant Singh (Jinnah - India - Partition - Independence) explains in endnote 2 in Chapter 2:

Khoja in a strict sense is the name of an Indian caste consisting mostly of Nizari Ismailis and some Sunnis and Twelver Shias split off the Ismaili community.   In a larger sense, the name commonly refers to the Indian Nizaris in general, including some minor communities like the Shamsis in the area of Multan and some Momnas in Northern Gujarat.  Most Nizari activity seems to be centered around Sindh.

The Khojas had been active in commerce between India and East Africa since the seventeenth century but could only settle in large numbers in East Africa after the eighteenth century.   The coming of the Aga Khan Hasan Ali Shah to India in 1840 led to an aggravation of earlier conflicts within the Khoja community about the rights of the Imam.   In 1866, a judgment in a law suit brought against the Aga Khan by ex-communicated members of the community ended up fully upholding the rights and authority of the Imam.  This resulted in the dissidents separating from the community; the Sunni Khojas.  The later dissidents, seceding in 1877 and 1901, formed Ithna Ashari Khoja communities in Bombay and East Africa.

How historians manufacture history

An incident in the careers of Jinnah and Gandhi serves to illustrate how historians manufacture their narratives.  I've written about it before (here) but now have a more complete contemporary source, and so am bringing it  up again.

On January 14, 1915, the Gujarati community in Bombay held a meeting to felicitate Gandhi and his wife, recently returned from South Africa.  Jinnah presided over the meeting.

The most complete contemporary account of the meeting that I have (from the newspaper Bombay Chronicle) is here.  Note that Jinnah ended his speech with the problem of Hindu-Muslim unity, and Gandhi began by saying that while in South Africa "Gujarati" was associated with Hindus only and not Parsis and Muslims, here he was glad a Muslim was a member, and presiding.

Click here for the Bombay Chronicle version (via Riaz Ahmed) 
(Note: Riaz Ahmed, in his introduction to Volume 2, cites the above as saying, "[Gandhi] thanked Jinnah for presiding over "a [sic] Hindu gathering".)

Click here for Wolpert's version.

(excerpt) Had he meant to be malicious rather than his usual ingenuous self, Gandhi could not have contrived a more cleverly patronizing barb, for he was not actually insulting Jinnah, after all, just informing every one of his minority religious identity.

Click here for Jaswant Singh's version.

(excerpt) At their very first meeting, at the Gurjar Sabha in January 1915, convened to felicitate Gandhi upon his return from South Africa, in response to a welcome speech, with Jinnah presiding, Gandhi had somewhat accommodatingly said he was ‘glad to find a Muslim not only belonging to his own region’s sabha but chairing it.’ Gandhi had singled out Jinnah as a Muslim, though, neither in appearance or in conduct was Jinnah anywhere near to being any of the stereotypes of the religious identity ascribed by Gandhi. Jinnah, on the other hand, was far more fulsome in his praise......This, too, was all right but then, needlessly, he thanked Jinnah for presiding over a Hindu gathering. This was an ungracious and discouraging response to Jinnah’s warm welcome and had a dampening effect.

The CWMG (electronic) with Gandhi's speech.

You be the judge, are either Wolpert or Jaswant Singh justified in what they wrote?

_____

PS:

Wolpert wrote in that same passage:

The Mahatma's ambulance corps had sailed for France without its founder after he had a slight nervous breakdown in London and decided to return home to India instead, thus prolonging his life by some three decades.

As per Robert Payne, The Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi, “Gandhi was ill with pleurisy in London”.  Gandhi, in a January 9, 1915 interview with the Bombay Chronicle, (CWMG (electronic), Volume 14, #269)

Unfortunately, however, I was suffering from pleurisy, and the Commanding Officers in charge of the various sections would not listen to my going to any of the hospitals. Meanwhile, Mrs. Gandhi had a relapse of an old malady, and the Under-Secretary of State for India, on hearing this, immediately wrote to me saying that, after all, my work, so far as the organisation of the corps was concerned, was finished, and that as both of us were ill. we should at once return to India. Hence it is that we are here before our time. 

Earlier, (CWMG (electronic) Volume 14, #241)) from London, Gandhi wrote to Maganlal Gandhi:

 I am still confined to bed and shall be so, it seems, for another ten days at least….

Gandhi’s letter to Herman Kallenbach,  January 22, 1915 (CWMG (electronic), Volume 14, #281) –

Pleurisy has become chronic. It is not very painful but it necessitates great care. …. Blood continues to come up while coughing…

Only by March 2, 1915, could Gandhi write to D.B. Shukla (CWMG (electronic), Volume 14, #316) –

My health is fairly good. There is still pain in my ribs but Dr.Dev said that there was no pleurisy now.

Gandhi also records the visits of Lady Cecilia Roberts, and also the Under Secretary of State, Charles Roberts, visiting him and advising him to return to India. (The Story of My Experiments with Truth, CWMG(electronic), Volume 44, page 358)

Whilst things were going on in this way, Mr. Roberts one day came to see me and urged me very strongly to go home. ‘You cannot possibly go to Netley in this condition. There is still severer cold ahead of us. I would strongly advise you to get back to India, for it is only there that you can be completely cured. If, after your recovery, you should find the War still going on, you will have many opportunities there of rendering help. As it is, I do not regard what you have already done as by any means a mean contribution.’

I accepted his advice and began to make preparations for returning to India.

I do not yet have any information about the fate of the volunteer nursing corp that Gandhi organized (Wolpert implies that it was decimated, and Gandhi would have perished if he shipped to continental Europe with it.)

----
Jaswant Singh writes:

To receive Gandhi, Jinnah had forsaken attending the Madras Congress meet of 1914.

He does not say where he got this from.  The Congress session in Madras was from December 28-30 of 1914,  and as per this online chronology of Jinnah, he was "elected member of All India Congress Committee at Indian National Congress session Madras" (in absentia?)

Gurjar Sabha, January 14, 1915 from Stanley Wolpert

Stanley Wolpert, "Jinnah of Pakistan" (chapter 3):

"By January of 1915, Jinnah was home.  The Gujarat Society (Gurjar Sabha), which he led, gave a garden party to welcome Gandhi back to India.  The Mahatma's ambulance corps had sailed for France without its founder after he had a slight nervous breakdown in London and decided to return home to India instead, thus prolonging his life by some three decades.  Gandhi's response to Jinnah's urbane welcome was that he was "glad to find a Mahomedan not only belonging to his own region's Sabha, but chairing it."  Had he meant to be malicious rather than his usual ingenuous self, Gandhi could not have contrived a more cleverly patronizing barb, for he was not actually insulting Jinnah, after all, just informing every one of his minority religious identity.  What an odd fact to single out for comment about this multifaceted man, whose dress, behavior, speech and manner totally belied any resemblance to his religious affiliation!  Jinnah, in fact, hoped by his Anglophile appearance and secular wit and wisdom to convince the Hindu majority of his colleagues and countrymen that he was, indeed, as qualified to lead any of their public organizations as Gokhale, or Wedderburn, or Dadabhai.  Yet here, in the first public words Gandhi uttered about him, every one had to note that Jinnah was a "Mahomedan".

Gurjar Sabha, January 14, 1915 from Jaswant Singh

We find this in Jaswant Singh's book - Jinnah : India - Partition - Independence.  Jaswant Singh's reference is "M.K. Gandhi at the Gurjar Sabha reception, Bombay, 14 January 1915, Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, XIII, No. 8., p.9, Publications Division, Ministry of Information, Delhi, 1964."

   The Telegraph of Calcutta has an excerpt of the book, from which I reproduce the following:

Although the families of both Jinnah and Gandhi had once lived just about 40 miles or so apart in Kathiawar (Gujarat), this adjacency of their places of origin did nothing to bring their politics close together. At their very first meeting, at the Gurjar Sabha in January 1915, convened to felicitate Gandhi upon his return from South Africa, in response to a welcome speech, with Jinnah presiding, Gandhi had somewhat accommodatingly said he was ‘glad to find a Muslim not only belonging to his own region’s sabha but chairing it.’ Gandhi had singled out Jinnah as a Muslim, though, neither in appearance or in conduct was Jinnah anywhere near to being any of the stereotypes of the religious identity ascribed by Gandhi. Jinnah, on the other hand, was far more fulsome in his praise.

Gandhi had reached India by boat in January 1915 when many leaders, including Jinnah and Gokhale, went to Bombay to give him an ovatious welcome. By this date Jinnah had already engaged as an all India leader and was committed to attaining his stated goals of unity, not just between the Muslims and the Hindus, Extremists and Moderates, but also among various classes of India. To receive Gandhi, Jinnah had forsaken attending the Madras Congress meet of 1914. Gandhi, upon reaching Bombay, had been warmly welcomed by Jinnah who wanted to enlist his services for the cause of Hindu-Muslim unity. It was because of his popularity and standing that Jinnah had been invited to preside over a garden party given by the Gurjar Sabha, an association of the Gurjar (Gujar) community, arranged to welcome Mr and Mrs Gandhi, on his arrival on 13 January 1915.

In his presidential address, Jinnah ‘welcomed... Mr and Mrs Gandhi, not only on behalf of Bombay but on behalf of the whole of India.’ He impressed upon Gandhi that the greatest problem was ‘to bring about unanimity and co-operation between the two communities so that the demands of India (from Imperial Britain) may be made absolutely unanimously.’ For this he desired ‘that frame of mind, that state, that condition which they had to bring about between the two communities, when most of their problems, he had no doubt, would easily be solved.’ Jinnah went to the extent of saying: ‘Undoubtedly he [Gandhi] would not only become a worthy ornament but also a real worker whose equals there were very few.’ This remark was greatly applauded by a largely Hindu audience, accounts of that meeting report. Gandhi, however, was cautious and somewhat circuitous in his response. He took the plea that he would study all the Indian questions from ‘his own point of view,’ a reasonable enough assertion; also because Gokhale had advised him to study the situation for at least a year before entering politics. This, too, was all right but then, needlessly, he thanked Jinnah for presiding over a Hindu gathering. This was an ungracious and discouraging response to Jinnah’s warm welcome and had a dampening effect.

Gurjar Sabha, January 14, 1915 from CWMG

Stanley Wolpert & Jaswant Singh cite Volume XIII, page 9 of The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi; however in the electronic version, it is Volume 14, page 342.



276. SPEECH AT GURJAR SABHA RECEPTION, BOMBAY
{footnote: A brief report of this also appeared in Gujarati, 17-1-1915.}
January 14, 1915

A garden party in honour of Gandhiji and Shrimati Kasturba Gandhi was given by members of the Gurjar Sabha, Bombay, on the grounds of Mangaldas House, on January 14, 1915. Messrs M. A. Jinnah, Chairman of the Sabha, who presided on the occasion, and K. M. Munshi having spoken (in English) welcoming the guests, Gandhiji replied as follows:

Mr. Gandhi, who spoke in Gujarati, thanked Mr. Jinnah for presiding at this function and said that while he was in South Africa and anything was said about Gujaratis, it was understood to have a reference to the Hindu community only and Parsis and Mahomedans were not thought of. He was, therefore, glad to find a Mahomedan a member of the Gurjar Sabha and the chairman of that function.

With regard to their words of praise and welcome, he was at a loss to say anything. As he had said so often before, he and his wife had done nothing beyond their duty. He did not wish to repeat the same thing, but he desired to say that he considered all these good feelings and kind words as their blessings and he prayed to God. that those blessings might enable him and his wife faithfully to serve their country. They first intended to study all the Indian questions and then enter upon the service of the country. He had looked upon the Hon. Mr. Gokhale as his guide and leader and he had full confidence in him and he was sure that Mr. Gokhale would not put him on the wrong track. He had visited His Excellency the Governor {Lord Willingdon}   that morning and while thanking him for the honour, he also mentioned the same thing that he was absolutely confident that under the guiding spirit of the Hon. Mr. Gokhale he would be adopting the right course.

Continuing, Mr. Gandhi said that the chairman had referred to the South African question. He had a good deal to say on this subject and he would explain the whole situation in the very near future to the Bombay public and through them to the whole of India. The compromise was satisfactory and he trusted that what had remained to be gained would be gained. The South Africans had now learnt that they could not utterly disregard the Indians or disrespect their feelings.

With regard to the Hindu-Mahomedan question he had much to learn, but he would always keep before his eyes his twenty-one years’ experience in South Africa and he still remembered that one sentence uttered by Sir Syed Ahmed, namely, that the Hindus and Mahomedans were the two eyes of Mother India and if one looked at one end and the other at the other, neither would be able to see anything and that if one was gone, the other would see to that extent only. Both the communities had to bear this in mind in the future.

In conclusion, he thanked them for the great honour done to him and his wife.

The Bombay Chronicle,  15-1-1915

Gurjar Sabha, January 14, 1915 from Riaz Ahmed

 Note: Riaz Ahmed sets the date of the event as January 13.   Jaswant Singh also sets it to January 13.

The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi gives the date as January 14.  The chronology given there is as follows:

January 9: Gandhiji and Kasturba landed at Apollo Bunder, Bombay.
In interview to The Bombay Chronicle and The Times of India, Gandhiji said he would follow Gokhale’s advice and pass some time in India observing and studying.
January 11: Reception at Ghatkopar, Bombay.
January 12: Public reception at Mount Petit, Bombay, Sir
Pherozeshah Mehta presiding.
January 13: Welcome by Bombay National Union at Hirabag. B. G. Tilak and Joseph Baptista attended.
January 14: Gandhiji entertained by Bombay branch of Servants of India Society.
Met Governor of Bombay.
Garden party by Gurjar Sabha, Bombay, M. A. Jinnah presided.

The online Chronology of Gandhi in Bombay also gives the date as January 14. (reproduced at the end of this document).

From

The Works of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah

Volume II (1913-1916)

Editor: Dr. Riaz Ahmad

MR. AND MRS. GANDHI ENTERTAINED BY GURJAR SABHA – JINNAH ON SOUTH AFRICAN PROBLEMS

13 January 1915 (Bombay Chronicle, 15 January 1915)

Mr. M.K. Gandhi and Mrs. Gandhi were entertained at a garden party, yesterday evening (13-1-1915), in the specious [sic] gardens of Mangaldass House by the members of the Gujar Sabha.  There was a very large and representative gathering and those present included the Hon. Mr. P.D. Pattni.

Mr. K.M. Munshi, in opening the proceedings, said the movement was first started by a single body as a public expression of the feelings of reverence to the admiration for the greatest son of modern Gujarat, but it was gratifying to see that it was whole-heartedly supported by the whole of the Gujerati-speaking community.

Mr. M. A. Jinnah who presided, welcoming the guests of the evening on behalf of the Sabha, said that he considered a great privilege and certainly a very great honour that he should have the opportunity of welcoming Mr. and Mrs. Gandhi back to their motherland after the most strenuous and hard labour in South Africa in the cause of the Indians residing there as well as in the cause of India generally.  Mr. Gandhi came back to India after a quarter of a century.  From the very start he had devoted himself to the cause of the Indian community in South Africa and the question of immigration in South Africa.   This question was long one and had a long history but recently, as they were all aware, it had assumed a shape and issue which threatened to destroy the very existence of Indians in South Africa and it was then that Mr. Gandhi led the South African Indian community so to say in a constitutional war and they all knew what trials, what troubles, what sufferings and what sacrifices he had to go through and they all knew that eventually that immediate issue, which threatened the very existence of the Indian community in South Africa, was brought about in a compromise, which seemed to all parties satisfactory, but if he might say so as one who had taken some interest in the question – and he believed he was voicing the feelings of every Indian on that point – the question as settled did not end the other issues of a graver and more important character and those would have to be settled as soon as possible (hear, hear).

Continuing, Mr. Jinnah said that he was sure that they were all very glad to see Mr. Gandhi back among them, but while he (the speaker) was thinking about it and reading in the press as to the future programme of Mr. Gandhi, namely, to devote himself to the cause of the country, it struck him that what a pity it was that there was nobody in South Africa who could take his place, and fight their battle, a bigger battle than the one fought and successfully fought, and therefore it seemed to him that what was their gain was a terrible loss of South Africa so far as the Indians there were concerned.   Of course, Mr. Gandhi know of his movements best and he knew how he should work them.   Personally, he (the speaker) felt that it did not matter where Mr. Gandhi was.  Undoubtedly here he would not only become a worthy ornament, but also a very real worker whose equals there were very few (applause).

He felt sure that he was uttering the sentiments of everyone when he said that Mr. Gandhi deserved the welcome not only of the Gurjar Sabha, not only of Gujerat but of the whole of India.   But while he was praising Mr. Gandhi he did not forget Mrs. Gandhi, who had set an example not only to the womankind of India, but he might say to the womankind of the whole world.   For a woman to stand by her husband, share his trials and sufferings and sacrifices and even to go to jail was model of  womanhood of which any country could well be proud of (applause).

He did not think he was exaggerating when he said that such a son of India and such a daughter of India had not only raised the reputation of India but had vindicated the honour of the great and ancient land.  They had drawn the attention of the whole world and the whole world admired the trials and troubles and sacrifices Mr. and Mrs. Gandhi underwent for the cause of their country and their countrymen (applause).

HINDU –MAHOMEDAN PROBLEM

Continuing Mr. Jinnah said that he had only one word to add.  After the great war that is going on and which has to decide the issue between might and right – and he had no doubt that right will succeed (hear, hear) – questions affecting India will have to be considered and solved and the one word that he might say to Mr. Gandhi was that throughout the whole country, the two sister communities of India – Hindus and Mahomedans – showed themselves unanimous, absolutely one, on the South African question, and he thought that that was the first question and the first occasion on which the two sister communities stood together in absolute union and it had its moral and political effect of the settlement of the question.

That it had its gain was being displaying with by the attitude of India towards the war and the whole of India had stood by the Empire, as one of its members.  It was in that frame of mind, that state, that condition which they had to bring about between the two communities, when most of their problems, he had no doubt, would be easily be solved.

That, he said to Mr, Gandhi, was one problem of all the problems of India – namely, how to bring about unanimity and co-operation between the two communities so that the demands of India may be made absolutely unanimously.  He again welcomed them in the name of the Gurjar Sabha, who took the greatest pride in receiving them that evening. (Applause)

Both the guests were then garlanded.

Mr. Gandhi, who spoke in Gujerati, thanked Mr. Jinnah for presiding at this function and said that while he was in South Africa and anything was said about Gujeratis, it was understood to have a reference to the Hindu community only and Parsis and Mahomedans were not thought of.   He was, therefore, glad to find a Mahomedan a member of the Gurjar Sabha and the chairman of that function.

With regard to their words of praise and welcome, he was at a loss to say anything. As he had said so often before, he and his wife had done nothing beyond their duty.  He did not wish to repeat the same thing but he desired to say that he considered all these good feelings and kind words as their blessings and he prayed to God that those blessings might enable him and his wife in faithfully serving their country.

They first intended to study all the Indian questions and then enter upon the service of the country.  He had looked upon the Hon. Mr. Gokhale as his guide and leader and he had full confidence in him and he was sure that Mr. Gokhale would not put him on the wrong track.   He had visited his Excellency the Governor that morning and while thanking him for the honour he also mentioned the same thing that he was absolutely confident that under the guiding spirit of the Hon. Mr. Gokhale he would be adopting the right course.

Continuing, Mr. Gandhi said that the chairman had referred to the South African question.   He had a good deal to say on the subject and he would explain the whole situation in the very near future to the Bombay public and through them the whole of India.  The compromise was satisfactory and he trusted that what had remained to be gained would be gained.   The South Africans had now learnt that they could not utterly disregard the Indians or disrespect their feelings.

With regard to the Hindu-Mahomedan question he had much to learn, but he would always keep before his eyes his twenty-one years of experience in South Africa and he still remembered that one sentence uttered by Sir Syed Ahmed, namely, that the Hindus and Mahomedans were the two eyes of mother India, and if one looked at one end and the other at the other, neither would be able to see anything, and that if one was gone, the other would see to that extent only.   Both the communities had to bear this in mind in the future.

In conclusion, he [Gandhi] thanked them for the great honour done to him and his wife.

Refreshments were then served and the gathering dispersed after about an hour.

___

From the online Chronology of Gandhi in Bombay

1915

January 9 - 15

           

9th Jan          

Gandhi arrived at 7.30 am by SS Arabia from South Africa via London.

Reception at several places.

Put up at Revashanker Jhaveri's (Santacruz).

Interviewed by Times of India.

Met G. K. Gokhale & V. S. Sastri at Narottam Morarji's house. details.....

           

10th Jan

           

Met relatives in Bazaar Gate street, it was here that Swami Anand first met Gandhi.

Reception by Mulji Ashram (theatre) 'Buddha Deva' was being staged by his troupe.

Addressed by National Union (Hira Baug) which was presided by B. G. Tilak.

11th Jan

           

Meeting at Ghatkopar. Received Golden manacles as a gift.

12th Jan

           

Met Dadabhai Navroji and Dr. Dadi Burjorji. (Dr. Burjorji had attended Gandhi in Durban, South Africa wshen he was attacked by whites.)

Attended party full of pomp and grandeur, hosted by the Petits. details.....

 13th Jan       

Reception given by National Union (Madhav Baug). Tilak was also present.

           

14th Jan

           

Saw Lord Willingdon, the Governor.

Reception given by Gurjar Sabha (Gujarat Association). M. A. Jinnah, in his welcome speech praised Gandhi & Ba of their services in South Africa. details.....

Jinnah's religion - 7

http://www.awamiweb.com/quaid-e-azam-was-ismaili-converted-to-bohrism-later-altaf-hussain-52432.html

Quaid e Azam Was Ismaili, Converted To Bohrism Later: Altaf Hussain

Posted by Hassam Ahmed on Aug 23rd, 2012

London: The Chief of Muttahida Qaumi Movement Altaf Hussain said that the founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah belonged to Ismaili faction initially which he left later and converted into Bohra Shia Ithna-Ashari group. During a meeting with scholars at MQM International Secretariat London, Altaf Hussain urged the historians to note that it is already been proved from the historical facts that the founder of the country first practiced Ismaili faith but in 1898 Quaid-e-Azam submitted an Affidavit in Mumbai’s magistrate court where he stated the Sect of his family was Ismaili from the beginning but now he and his sister Fatimah are converting into Ithna-Ashari sect of faith.

Altaf Hussain also referred a book ‘Quaid as I knew Him’ of QA’s close friend Abul Hasan Ispahani for further details and study of this case. MQM Chief said it is a historical fact that Quaid-e-Azam was the member of Khoja group and give dontations for it regularly. When Jinnah died in 1948 his body was bathed by Haji Kalu who himself was Khoja Shia Ithna-Ashari, he said.
Hussain further claimed that two funeral prayers were offered for Jinnah, first by Shia religious scholar Molana Anees ul Hasnain and other by Allama Shabbir Ahmed Usmani.

Note: The Works of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Vol I (1893-1912) compiled by Dr. Riaz Ahmed includes all kinds of material from Jinnah's court activities, but does not include the 1898 affidavit.

Jinnah's religion - 6

This May 9, 1998 report at rediff.com is at variance with the Khaled Ahmed piece quoted before.